Mad Men: Season Five (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

What exactly is the age difference? it's only a couple of years, isn't it?

I think Glen is 15 (maybe even 16) now and Sally is 13. If we were talking 23 and 25, it wouldn't phase me but that's a big gap at that age. Plus, the look of the actors- Marten Weiner looks like a teenager now and Kiernan Shipka still looks like a kid- highlights the age difference too.

 

[joshEH]

I think Glen is 15 (maybe even 16) now and Sally is 13. If we were talking 23 and 25, it wouldn't phase me but that's a big gap at that age. Plus, the look of the actors- Marten Weiner looks like a teenager now and Kiernan Shipka still looks like a kid- highlights the age difference too.

I think Glen would come across as a fairly normal kid if played by somebody else. I think he's written sensitively, but unfortunately, Matt Weiner's son has shark eyes and a pedo-'stache.
On a completely unrelated note, if they had cast Jared Harris as Hannibal Lecter instead of Mads Mikkelsen, I think it might've been better for all involved. I didn't really get a chance to hope for that, as one followed the other so fast, but I surely would have.

 

[joshEH]

Oh, man...another great .GIF is about to appear of Pete Campbell getting punched in the face. I love this growing trend.
(Also: Rory-sideboob. I feel guilty, yet aroused.)

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yay, Peggy's still around (but that dog-humping scene was so random, made me LOL).
Loved the last line, which could be taken in many ways, summarizing Don's own sense of desolation, being surrounded by people, but not quite the right people. Plus dealing with his own sense of guilt, and knowing it'll never go away.
Don't think Rory sideboob made up for Rog's moon. Yowie, talk about random...
Pete really needs to take some self-defense classes, or something...

 

[joshEH]

"What is Regina?"
This episode had the yin and the yang for many fans -- the elation of Pete getting pummeled once again (you may want to avoid fisticuffs from here on out, Pete), and the bitter disappointment that the heavy-breathing caller was Roger, and not Glen.
In more serious news, is Peggy about to create Virginia Slims? Don walking off the set into darkness was iconic. And a perfect use of "You Only Live Twice."
(I wouldn't mind seeing a re-edit where Roger's last shot is followed by Peggy's reaction to the dogs.)

 

[Joe_H]

Maybe it's just me, but I actually thought this finale was one of the weaker episodes of the season.
Overall though, this has probably been my favorite season of the show to date.
I was a little surprised that Don didn't come up with the obvious (to me at least) solution of seeing if Peggy would add Megan to the list of people auditioning for whatever the Virginia Slims advertising will be. I mean, when he mentioned everyone at the office knowing Megan, it seemed like an obvious solution even then, and that was before he ran into Peggy.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by joshEH /t/317541/mad-men-season-five/270#post_3937011
Don walking off the set into darkness was iconic.

The was, in my mind, a perfect shot.

Badass.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun /t/317541/mad-men-season-five/270#post_3937004
Yay, Peggy's still around (but that dog-humping scene was so random, made me LOL).
...

Peggy has definitely "..come a long way, baby."

Apparently looking out your window and seeing procreating dogs is cinematic shorthand for being in Virgina.

 

[Quentin]

Wow. If you didn't think Hamm's Don Draper was the iconic 60's man, you do now. Give him an accent and I'd cast him in the next Bond film. But, order a martini dude...an old fashioned?
I think Don was hottest for Megan when she was in the office...well within his observational range, but independent enough that she was kicking ass and succeeding at the ad work well on her own. He was inspired by her and aroused by her and totally in to her.
And, now...he has helped her get this other thing as he walks away into shadow and into a bar with new, young admirers. "you help somebody, and they leave" indeed. I think Don Draper admires people who help themselves...much as he has had to do.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Interesting that there were not one, but two references to James Bond movies in this episode. The first is the use at the end of the main title song to You Only Live Twice, obviously. Did any of you HT nuts catch the other?

Spoiler

When Don and Peggy meet at the movies, they are seeing the tripped-out LSD-soaked version of Casino Royale, as was clear from its very distinctive main title music played quietly in the background.

I'm not entirely sure what we're supposed to make of that, other than to broadly hint that Don may well be going back into womanizing mode, as the final scene suggested could happen.

 

[Patrick Sun]

"Be careful about asking for what you want, you just might get it (regretfully so)."

 

[joshEH]

(Familiar pose?)
Before, he was asked, "Who is Don Draper?" Now he's asked, "Are you alone?" Both questions that have huge relevance outside the immediate conversations in which they were posed. And one that applies to very nearly every character on the show, now.
Roger's alone, and seems to be reveling in it. Peggy's alone, and seems overwhelmed. Pete's alone, even as he seems to have everything a man would ever want. And Joan's alone, not only as the sole female partner, but she really isn't the object of anyone's desire for the first time since the series started. And of course Don, who's alone in the sense that he seems stagnant while others are in motion.
Don gives Rebecca Lane's $50,000 back, and is told it wasn't about helping anybody but himself. That has to cast doubt on his intentions in getting Megan that commercial-role, beyond just feeling sorry for her.
The dogs and Peggy's reaction killed me. We had to pause until we stopped laughing.
So where do they go next season? More exploration of the theme of isolation? Could be an interesting tie-in with the space-race, where the astronauts were frequently isolated far from home. And do they rename the firm? Not a huge, pressing question, but I am slightly curious.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Don't forget the spacing between the 5 partners on the empty floor, they weren't bundled together, like a team or family, but rather evenly spaced apart.

 

[joshEH]

Looking back, I'm starting to think now that Don and Megan being considered "boring" this season was actually part of the point. Don was happy. Happy is boring to others. He wasn't the old pussy-hound; he wasn't the old killer in the office. Now, perhaps, that's changing.
Megan is changing too, although into what, we don't know. But her pouting and getting drunk in the middle of the day because she wasn't getting what she wanted was not a good look. Her mother had a great line: "The world cannot support that many ballerinas." The Megan of the first part of the season was a little too perfect. Now we're seeing the same flaws in her that we see in everyone else.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I wanted to go with "Ennui" as the closest word I might use to describe this season finale, but it's not quite that. It's more about not getting what we want, but also not quite wanting what we get.

 

[Chucky P]

Can someone explain to me the dispute that Joan and Harry had in the elevator?
Thanks

 

[TravisR]

Can someone explain to me the dispute that Joan and Harry had in the elevator?

Joan didn't want Harry to know that she was going upstairs to look at office space so she pretended to have hit the wrong button on the elevator but Harry pressed her for info. Harry seems like an important part of the company so it's odd that he'd be deliberately kept out of the loop but I guess at that point, only the partners were supposed to know.

 

[Chucky P]

That makes sense, thanks Travis.

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by joshEH /t/317541/mad-men-season-five/270#post_3936989
Oh, man...another great .GIF is about to appear of Pete Campbell getting punched in the face. I love this growing trend.
(Also: Rory-sideboob. I feel guilty, yet aroused.)

Not once, but twice. Pete is now 0-for-3 this season.

Personal opinion: Don is going back to his old ways because that is, truly, his dream. His thought process is "everyone else is doing exactly what they want, why can't I?" Megan got the commercial she wanted, Betty got what she wanted with Henry, Lane presumably got what he wanted, the firm is getting another floor, Roger got Megan's mother again. He's been trying-valiantly-to be what everyone else expected of him: strong, smart, upstanding. But that's not really Don. He wants two lives, like the song says. He's going to try to meld them again. Can divorce #3 be that far off?

Not the finale I was wanted, but probably the one the show deserved after the last two episodes. I'm content with what happened and feel almost grateful the show won't be back until next year. Just enough time for me to wash off the feeling of ickiness for adoring a show featuring, largely, morally repugnant people.

 

[ScottH]

Not the most compelling season finale, but about what I expected after the previous two juggernauts. Agree that this was easily the best overall season.

Don still had to get in that narcissistic jab on Peg with his "I still like to see the people I've helped succeed." What a tool.

Pete's train ride's gonna be a little awkward from now on.

So has it been said how many more seasons we will have?